I’m going to strive one thing just a little completely different this yr. I’ve a variety of albums I wish to highlight and it doesn’t appear truthful to match full-length tasks to mini albums. So, I’ll have a countdown for every. Immediately, I’ll share my high 5 full-length albums of the yr and tomorrow I’ll put up my high ten mini albums.
5. SUPER JUNIOR – SUPER JUNIOR 25
It’s all the time good when a veteran group surprises you with robust materials. So many older Okay-pop acts ship diminished returns, however Tremendous Junior discovered a strategy to highlight a variety of their previous sounds in new methods with this twenty-fifth anniversary mission. There’s hardly a dud to be discovered right here, and extra importantly there are a couple of massive highlights. So-so title monitor Categorical Mode doesn’t inform the complete story. As a substitute, take a look at the gloriously bombastic D.N.A, breezy funk of Air or the singalong rock of Delight.
Standout Album Tracks: D.N.A, Air, Delight
4. CRAVITY – DARE TO CRAVE
CRAVITY’s standout 2025 started and ended with this album. They stretched promo all year long, including an epilogue with three killer tracks in November. It’s a hefty mission, working fifteen tracks. And with a lot happening, there’s little or no that feels pointless. The unit songs are nice, the title tracks are among the many yr’s finest, and your complete album refines the group’s previous sounds into one thing that feels recent and thrilling.
Standout Album Tracks: Stadium, Swish, Underdog
3. NCT DREAM – GO BACK TO THE FUTURE
It was a really robust July for SM Leisure as this and Tremendous Junior’s album dropped again to again. Each harnessed basic sounds from the company’s previous. Go Again To The Future was heralded by two robust title tracks with a constant idea and storytelling. However transfer previous these tracks and also you’ve obtained a a lot lighter, extra buoyant work. At eight full tracks, its the shortest mission on this checklist, however that leaves little or no room for filler.
Standout Album Tracks: I Like It, Dream Staff, That Summer time
2. NMIXX – BLUE VALENTINE
It’s been rewarding to see NMIXX refine their sound into what looks like its finest, most genre-spanning kind. Blue Valentine boasted a mammoth single, however for those who dig previous the promoted materials you’ll discover much more goodies. I like the group’s extra electro-tinged tracks. Songs like Actuality Hurts and Phoenix echo basic Okay-pop teams like f(x), whereas RICO and Podium strive on extra fashionable tropes and twist them to NMIXX’s will. We’ve obtained pure pop (Form Of Love), rock balladry (Adore U) and even a reinvention of a previous single (O.O‘s two components). There’s just a little one thing for everybody right here, and it’s all of very top quality.
Standout Album Tracks: Actuality Hurts, Phoenix, Form Of Love
1. RIIZE – ODYSSEY
For the second time in a yr, RIIZE dominate this class. This isn’t a shock, as Odyssey is virtually constructed for my style. In a manner, I think about it an idea album, blitzing by way of many years of disparate boyband sounds. We’ve obtained the sugary Swedish pop of Inside My Love, the dramatic SMP fashion Ember To Photo voltaic, the Excessive Faculty Musical romp Fly Up, the One Route pop-rocker Present Me Love, the OST-esque ballad The Finish Of The Day and the swaggering hip-hop of Bag Unhealthy Again. Then, the group takes some surprising turns within the type of One other Life and its searing, psychedelic guitar. It’s a remarkably taut album with no actual filler. And although I keep that the improper track was chosen as a title monitor, I’m keen to forgive that lapse in judgement when the whole lot right here is so robust.
Standout Album Tracks: Ember To Photo voltaic, One other Life, Present Me Love